Left field is better than the bench
Many moons ago, back on April 25, our very own beloved blogger who hardly writes anything Steve Gallo, wrote that a good fit for the Phillies would be Chase Utley in left field.
Today, guess what Dave Murphy of the Daily News wrote?
Turns out, despite my previous judgments, Steve is a genius.
There are two reasons you do this:
1. Freddy Galvis is an amazing defender and actually is driving in some friggin runs. According to his ESPN player page, he's on pace to drive in 74 runs. Not bad for a 7 or 8 hitter.
2. Chase Utley has no cartlidge in his knees. His days of playing second base are probably over. Darren Daulton said on "Talkin Baseball With Dutch" today on 97.5 the Fanatic that he had a harder time playing first base than he did the outfield.
Besides, the Phillies spent 12 seasons with Pat Burrell and Raul Ibanez in left field. How the hell could he be any worse?
Steve's lineup suggestion is pretty sweet:
- Rollins SS
- Victorino CF
- Utley LF
- Howard 1B
- Pence RF
- Ruiz C
- Polanco 3B
- Galvis 2B
- Pitcher.
That lineup is pretty sweet, of course the Ryan Howard thing may not happen. You can switch out Ruiz and Wigginton and it's still pretty sweet. I like it. Please do that, Phillies.
An even better fit:
Victorino
Polanco
Utley
Howard
Pence
Ruiz
Rollins
Galvis
Rollins has lost some bat speed and Victorino makes more contact. With Rollins and Galvis at 7/8 you still have many on-base opportunities at the end of the line up - hit and run, bunt and steal.
Posted by: Leonard Yovnello | May 25, 2012 at 12:21 PM
An even better lineup:
1. Rollins, ss
2. Brown, CF
3. Utley, LF
4. Howard, 1b
5. Pence, RF
6. Mark Reynolds, 3b
7. Ruiz, C
8. Galvis, 2b
Why Brown batting 2nd? He actually "can" get on base. The O's want to get rid of Reynolds, and can do without him and his big contract. The Phillies need some more power from 3b, and would be willing to move Victorino (who would add to the O's OF depth, and improve their linneup).
Posted by: Dave Cho | May 27, 2012 at 01:06 PM